Metal-Organic Frameworks derived novel hierarchical durian-like nickel sulfide (NiS₂) as an anode material for high-performance sodium-ion batteries

An anode material for sodium-ion batteries, Ni-Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs)-derived nickel sulfide (NiS₂), is first reported. The synthesis strategy involves a novel method in which Ni-based MOFs is fabricated as precursor and then sulfured by sublimed sulfur in solid phase reaction. The as synthesized Ni-MOFs-derived NiS₂ shows a hierarchical durian-like nanostructure made of nanoparticles with the diameter of around 10 nm and amorphous carbon with 3 dimensional conductive net skeleton. Moreover, due to the novel hierarchical nanostructure, sodium ions are able to easily insert/extract into/from the active material. As a result, the as synthesized Ni-MOF-derived NiS₂ nanostructure electrode exhibits high specific capacity and excellent rate performance. We believe that the hierarchical Ni-MOFs-derived NiS₂ nanoparticles will be one of the most promising electrode materials for sodium-ion batteries.